Councillors in Cobh are calling for stronger action against the owners of overgrown hedges, which they say pose a danger to people walking on footpaths in the Cork harbour town.

At this week's meeting of Cobh Municipal District (MD), Cllr Cathal Rasmussen brought forward a motion calling on the MD to send letters to property owners who let their hedges grow out onto footpaths. He said some sections of the town are "very bad," including a place where "briars are hanging on the wall," posing the danger "that somebody loses their eye in the dark."

"Is there any stronger way that we have in dealing with this? I know it's advertised on the papers, but unfortunately people don't buy papers anymore. Is it possible that after the letter has been sent, can we have to follow up with a phone call?" the Labour councillor asked.

Cllr Dominic Finn seconded the motion. He said overgrown hedges are a serious issue in several areas of the town and impact "in particular on a person who's visually impaired and is walking on that footpath and they can't see anything." Cllr Ger Curley said some of Cobh's untended hedges are "very dangerous. I definitely think there has to be a fine or a threat of a fine to get this done."

Cllr Sheila O'Callaghan also supported the motion and said it's not only farmers who need to cut their hedges. "People assume that it's only the big hawthorn hedge that has to be cut and that the lovely laurel and the privet and the red robin don't have to be cut at all but they're equally as intrusive and particularly where footpaths are narrow," she said.

She said that in Watergrasshill "we had issues with a beech hedge that overhung the footpath and mums and dads couldn't walk with the buggies because the children were getting wet from the droplets."

Cork County Council senior engineer Gerard O'Hoara told the MD meeting that under current legislation, the responsibility for maintaining roadside hedges and vegetation rests with the adjoining landowners or occupiers.

"We will look into it. What we will do first is that we'll issue advisory letters and then we'll follow it up, maybe with a call. But the other thing as well is that Cork County Council can take the legal route because it's a landowner's responsibility to maintain their hedges," he said.

Cork councillors call on local authority to get tough with owners of overgrown hedges